Married 15 Years?!

Colby and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in style on June 1st with some of our closest friends. Wow. Fifteen years is pretty outstanding.  We've survived thus far from becoming a statistic or two: teen parents, married young, weathered a few layoffs...but we are still married.

Marriage isn't easy, but it is far easier than the alternative.  I joke with my recently-divorced friends all the time about how awful it must be to return to dating in your thirties and forties.  They don't disagree with me.  I know many folks who have found love through online dating, but one of my most stubborn single friends won't give it a try.  Even when I tell her that new studies show great success for folks who meet a partner online, she is still not ready to take the plunge.  But I digress...

The reason I push relationships on my single friends is because I have such an amazing one.  I found the partner who goes to work so I can stay home, does house chores, plants and manages a garden, builds pretty much any project I commission, eats everything I cook, plays cards and boardgames with the kids, and always puts the toilet seat down.  Although, he does tend to leave every light in the house turned on when he leaves for work.  I guess I can live with that.

To all of the folks out there who have contributed to our success and happiness, whether big things or small, we could not have made it through 15 years without you.  Although my husband is my best friend and my closest family, there are so many other people who have made our marriage what it is today.  We have a loving family who has shown us what it means to work hard at a marriage. We have friends who have not only been with us through good times but have also given us so much hope and encouragement through the bad times.

So, here are some photos from our anniversary party.  I couldn't post all of the photos, but these are some of my favorites.  We had so much fun mixing our old friends with our new friends.  One of the women who teaches yoga with me, and whom I don't really know all that well, said to me, "I LOVE your friends!" I do, too. 

One of my friends from junior high who still tolerates me, me, and my lovely sister-in-law.  I love these ladies!

One of my newest friends, me, and one of my oldest friends.  We are such a cute little group.

A wedding tradition: eating cake!

Drunk yoga poses...at this hour, I can't believe we actually stayed balanced long enough for a photo!

This guy, what can I say? Give him a few Manhattans, and the party never ends.

Love this man!

Kisses at the after party

My sister-in-law and I got a little silly back at the hotel.  There are probably 30 photos of us messing around in front of these flowers.  She's a bad influence, but I love her!

This is one of my favorite silly photos!!  The macho man is Colby's brother.  Those awesome biceps are mine.